In May 2018, 15 trainees and junior faculty in adult and pediatric rheumatology from across the United States arrived at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston for the inaugural VERITY/Brigham Course in Rheumatology Clinical Research. The course is aimed at early stage investigators in rheumatology and musculoskeletal diseases who are performing clinical, epidemiologic or patient-oriented research studies.

At the course, participants hone their own research projects, either refining the specific aims page for a future grant or developing methods and statistical analysis plans for ongoing or proposed research. The course includes lectures, breakout sessions, workshops and one-on-one meetings with VERITY clinical research faculty. Attendees receive personalized feedback about their projects and advice on career development and work-life balance. The VERITY course also offers longitudinal mentoring to forge new collaborations across the country and to continue providing the project and career advice initiated at the course.

The 2018 attendees included 8 adult and 7 pediatric rheumatologists who, over six days, participated in a variety of lectures and workshops given by faculty from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Toronto Sick Kids and Boston Children’s Hospital. Lectures covered state-of-the-art musculoskeletal research including phenotyping and analyses of electronic medical record data using biomedical informatics; study design for nationwide pharmacy claims datasets and disease-specific registries; incorporation of wearable devices; adaptive clinical trials; and behavioral interventions.

The next VERITY/Brigham Course will be held in the spring of 2020. The course is free to attend; participants arrange their own travel and accommodation. More information about the 2020 VERITY course will be released later this year and will be available at www.verityresearch.org. Email verity@bwh.harvard.edu to be notified when the 2020 VERITY application is released.

VERITY Pilot & Feasibility Research Award

In 2018, VERITY established the Pilot & Feasibility (P&F) Research Award, a NIH/NIAMS supported grant for $20,000 in seed funding for new projects in clinical, epidemiologic or patient-oriented research. VERITY plans to award additional P&F grants annually for the next three years. Applicants must be a member of the VERITY research community (by signing up on the website). The selection committee will favor early career investigators (rank of Assistant Professor or below) who have not been awarded an R01 grant or equivalent. The 2019 VERITY P&F Research Award application is due May 1, 2019 at 5PM ET. To learn more about VERITY and the P&F Research Award, please visit www.verityresearch.org.